Born on brass band weekend

By REBECCA NEAL 
Staff Writer 

Milca Van Steenlandt wanted to enjoy her first Brass Band festival when her daughter, Mya, decided she wanted to join in the fun. 

The problem is, Mya hadn’t been born yet. 

“Maybe the music made her come out faster,” Milca Van Steenlandt joked. 

Mya Van Steenlandt was born five days late on June 16, 2001, during the Brass Band festival.

“I was in the hospital and I was thinking, everyone’s enjoying the festival but me,” she said. 

Van Steenlandt said her delivery was even more difficult because the hospital couldn’t track down the anesthesiologist. 

“He was probably out there, just having a hot dog and chilling,” she said. 

She also had trouble tracking down her husband, Marc, when she needed to get to the Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center. He had gone to talk to friends in the festival crowd. 

“I almost didn’t get there in time. If we’d been going to Lexington, I would have had her in the car,” she said. 

The Van Steenlandts moved to Danville from Orlando in 2001, just months before Mya was born. The couple had only visited friends in Danville a few times before deciding it was a better place to raise their children. 

“We took a big risk moving here,” she said. 

Marc Van Steenlandt is an architect who still works out of Orlando. He also does residential and commercial work in Danville and designed the Heritage Bank on Main Street.

Milca Van Steenlandt said she has made good friends with the people in her neighborhood. Originally from the Bronx, she said she was surprised by the Southern hospitality she’s seen in Danville. 

“I feel like people accept me for who I am here,” she said. The couple also has a 4-year-old son, Adrien. She also said they want to teach their children about their heritage, as Marc is Dutch and Milca is Puerto Rican. They are teaching their children Spanish, even young Mya. 

“We want them to have a sense of heritage and appreciate it,” she said. 

She said Kentucky and the Brass Band festival will be a part of her children’s heritage and remarked about the dates of Mya and Adrien’s births. 

“Adrien was born on our anniversary, and Mya was born on Father’s Day during the festival, so our kids must have some timing for special occasions,” she said.